This past August, Stanbridge Academy began a semester-long pilot program with an education startup. EMOTE is an intervention support tool that allows teachers to collaborate around student emotion.

“In discussing the EMOTE platform with [EMOTE Founder Julian Golder], I realized it was based on the zones of regulation, which we already use,” said Director of Student and Staff Development Christina McMorrow. “It was clear that this would be a natural fit for increased communication between teachers.”

Julian started developing EMOTE in early June after observing the need for emotional support and early intervention while working in education over the past decade.

“Students are always moving, so each instructor only gets to see a slice of their experience,” said Julian. “EMOTE gives each teacher—and the school—a new and complete perspective of each student.”

Teachers have been asked to input each student’s emotional state (green, blue, yellow, or red) in the app throughout the day. This data is then shared with the student’s other teachers and counselors allowing them to individualize their teaching and emotional support.

“EMOTE is a safe and secure way for staff to identify the emotional space and needs of out students,” said Head of High School Jay Huston. “Teachers use it to identify the times we should ‘take it easy’ on a student or strategize with the student techniques they can use to be successful in our class even though they are in a ‘non-green’ emotional state.”

While the platform is ideal for high school and junior high environments where students change instructors multiple times a day, it also benefits elementary school teachers.“When you’re teaching, you often think of the classroom as a global entity,” said Upper Elementary School Teacher Jerrod Nelson. “EMOTE is a great tool for me to check in on each student individually.”Julian meets with a group of Stanbridge teachers and Chris on an almost weekly basis to see what changes can be made to improve the app.“It’s a unique opportunity for us to be able to weigh in on new features that will help increase utility,” said Chris. “We basically get to customize it to fit our unique needs.”One of the reasons Stanbridge has been so successful as a pilot school, says Julian, is the teachers’ willingness to embrace new technology.“Stanbridge is a great school because it’s willing to adopt innovation,” said Julian. “It’s amazing to see that there’s not an insecurity or fear around trying new things.”Julian has big plans for EMOTE in the future. The app was recently accepted by Launch, an incubator for education startups, and he hopes to roll out student and parent versions of the platform soon.“This is the future of behavior support,” said Jay. “We’re lucky to be in on the ground floor!”

When Jonathan Murphy arrived at Stanbridge Academy at age 12, he preferred to stay in the background. Happiness was not being noticed or asked to engage. I think it came from fear of being picked on or bullied, a common occurrence at his previous school. But Stanbridge was different, Richard, the headmaster at the time told him. And he was right. For the first time, Jonathan was in a welcoming and accepting environment and he had teachers who cared enough to help him come out of his bubble—to break down his protective walls and learn to engage in life.

What we didn’t know then is that Jonathan is on the autism spectrum. But by the time he was diagnosed, he was already at Stanbridge, the best learning and social environment for his needs. He thrived at Stanbridge, taking on new challenges and building his character.

“He went from an insecure introvert to someone who has the potential to change the world,” said one of his teachers at his Stanbridge high school graduation in 2004.

Jonathan never thought he’d be able to go to college, but that’s what he did right after high school. Stanbridge gave him the confidence to try. He attended a well-respected two-year theater conservatory at Foothill College and in order to complete an AA in theater, he had to complete his general ed. So he took one class at a time and after 5 years he did it…on his own…and with honors!

Today, Jonathan works as a professional voice actor. His character voices are on animation, video games, and it’s his voice that you hear throughout the park when you are at California’s Great America. He’s worked hard to get to where he is today. He recently won the “People’s Choice Award” at the 2015 Northwest Tall Tale Challenge bringing the crowd to cheers over his dorky adaptation of the Three Little Pigs. And he just earned enough points to be able to join SAG-AFTRA, a labor union for people working in television, radio, and film.

A year ago, I founded Geek Club Books, an autism nonprofit that tells the stories of autism in innovative, creative ways—apps, digital media, webisodes, curriculum—to educate children about autism. Jonathan is involved in our latest project, Bluebee TeeVee Autism Information Station—a series of entertaining, educational webisodes about autism. Jonathan does the character voices for the Bluebee Pals. James Sullivan is the show’s host, scriptwriter, filmmaker and, like Jonathan, is also on the autism spectrum.

We just released episode 1, “What is Autism?” and it’s already been viewed more than 11,000 times on Facebook and YouTube. We think it’s because it’s the only pop-culture show with an authentic, friendly view of autism by those on the autism spectrum. Jonathan’s proud to be a part of something that can change how the world views autism and bring about a new world of inclusion and acceptance.

Jonathan’s advice for current Stanbridge students: “Don’t take everything so seriously. Don’t be afraid to fail, and just enjoy life as it comes. If you keep trying and work at something you love, you can achieve your dreams and have a good life.”

“It's a different experience from everyday in school,” said a Stanbridge senior, who went to Second Harvest. “It was very productive. We helped box up the produce.”

The students at Second Harvest boxed, weighed, put 18,000 lbs of sweet potatoes on pallets for delivery in two hours—a new record!

“The students are focused, and they work so hard,” said Susan Kufer, parent of a Stanbridge senior and community service organizer. “One of the agencies we work with regularly asked us to reduce our hours, because we were overwhelming them with too much efficiency.”

Susan first approached Stanbridge about adding a community service component to the high school curriculum in 2011.

“[Community service] is a fantastic way to do things outside yourself, and it fits into the Stanbridge modality of learning life skills,” said Susan. “We used to do it on staff development days, but it was tricky because of age cutoffs and transportation. We had to cancel a couple and always seemed to see the same 10 kids.”

Then-Head of School Marilyn Lynch granted Susan two days a year for the high school students to participate in community service activities. The program expanded to three days the following year.

“Community service provides both a local awareness and experience in the service industry,” said High School Spanish and Woodshop Teacher Aaron Carter. “It is an opportunity for students to help, learn, and excel in a real world environment; a win-win in my book.”

High school students will have two more opportunities to participate in community service activities later this year. In addition to InnVision and Second Harvest, students will have the option of serving lunch to the homeless at Glide Memorial Church or working with the Golden Gate Park Conservancy to extricate invasive species in the Presidio of San Francisco.

One of the greatest aspects of Stanbridge Academy is our vibrant community: our students, teachers, parents, and administrators. But what happens when students graduate from Stanbridge? Stanbridge students advance to a variety of dynamic and compelling futures, which is why we have chosen to create a series of blog posts focused on alumni stories.

We’ve all heard the "standard" life expectations. Graduate from high school. Go to college. Get a job. But what if you don’t walk the typical, expected path?

“Don’t put expectations on yourself. Do the best you can do and don’t conform to what anyone else wants you to do,” said Emily Josa, a 2013 Stanbridge Academy graduate.

Emily says she chose to take a semester off before starting her college career at a small community college.

“Transition is always difficult, but I think the fact that I gave myself some time to figure out what my plan was going to be helped me to be completely ready and succeed in my classes,” said Emily. “I’d recommend to anyone starting off very slow.”

Emily says she took only two classes her first semester and, when one wasn’t working out, decided to change her major.

“You can change your mind. You can make mistakes. It’s going to happen, and we just have to do what we can,” said Emily.

“With the right tools I think I could be a big help to people like me,” said Emily. “I started therapy in fourth grade and I loved it. I really admire what they did.”

In addition to becoming a certified therapist, Emily one day dreams of opening her own center teaching life skills.

“I want to start a place like Stanbridge, but all social workshops instead of academic classes,” said Emily. "Even neurotypical students are never taught life skills or don’t think they’re important. I think if I can make it fun to learn, they’ll be more like to participate and learn.”

In between classes, Emily is writing a series of high fantasy novels, which she hopes to publish in a mixed media, hybrid format.

“I’m a very visual person, but I can’t draw my own comic so I’ve been working with [Stanbridge teacher] David [Hopper] on getting art and music,” said Emily “That way it won’t be static; it will grow with the community, which I think would be pretty cool.”

Emily is also an avid figure skater and is working on a program set to music from her favorite band. Click here to listen.

Despite her perhaps unconventional start to life post-high school, Emily says she’s learned from every experience.

“Everyone says being young is the best time of your life. Maybe it’s not, but you still want to enjoy what you can and take away something from everything,” said Emily. “I use what I’ve learned as a springboard for the rest of my life. I try to tie all of this information together so I can continue living.”

If you are a Stanbridge alumnus or alumna and would like to be featured on the blog, please contact Director of Marketing and Communications Rachel Baker.

Stanbridge Academy is a caring, inclusive K-12 school for students with mild to moderate learning differences and social communication disorders. We use an individualized, whole student approach so that students thrive and develop their academic, social, and emotional capabilities to their fullest potential.